Kairinmaru Beer

I'm a big fan of this place. It's tucked away in "Fisherman's Harbor", a small town bordering Otaru, dominated by ramshackle fisherman shacks and small dirty streets. The building itself seems like it doesn't belong...yet somehow does. Brick with a few thin, seemingly hand-made beer vats outside, it's large and well-kept compared to the surroundings. Beside the small entranceway on the side, there is a boat launch into the harbor. Quiet and private atmosphere.

The entranceway leads down a long hallway and up stairs into the 2nd floor restaurant area. The hallway and stairwell are packed with paintings, as is the dining area. Apparently the owners collect art, mostly of portraits and paintings of the sea.

There are 2 main areas, one which has a sushi counter area and a Japanese-style floor seating. Everything is thick wood and resembles the inside of a ship. A huge slanting pane of glass looks out over the harbor and into Otaru. The view is idyllic. The other main area is not too shabby either, composed of semi-private group eating spaces with large Romantic tables and chairs. These areas, made of a rough plywood, are also crammed with paintings, and look out over the ocean. Our room had a big hardwood round table for 8 or so and had a photograph of Prime Minister Koizumi, who had apparently dined there on his recent trip to Hokkaido.

The beer selection is great, with all of their 6 or so highly unique beers on tap, available for the drinking in a ~$15 all-you-can-drink deal. Similar food deals are also available. Food is very good, mostly seafood but also with some fried options. Their specialty is sashimi and sushi, much of which they catch themselves. A previous time I went, I had an excellent sashimi plate for only ~$8.

The best atmosphere of any beer establishment I've been to in Japan.

I ate there. So did Japan's Prime Minister. That's impressive, huh? The view from the nicely isolated table we got was wonderful: the otaru harbor on one side, the sea of Japan on the other one. It looked similar to the Sea of Korea though. Tables are hidden in cool looking wooden boxes, I liked the privacy you could have there.
The beers are of very high quality. 5 of them, maybe a bit too similar, but all equally tasty. We got an all you can drink that only cost $13 for 90 minutes; that was so cheap. Service was very good; they accepted to prepare us a special set: we told them how much money we were willing to spend, and they made us a special menu, without reservation. And we were only 4 people (maybe 5, but my photos only show 4 now). We got a lot more food than I expected for the price. We got some good sushis, some cooked fish too, some miso soup, and some grilled meat and potatoes. That's all I need to be happy. The food selection was very diverse, and everything looked and tasted very good. The salad didn't look appealing though, so we offered us to the table next to us. I don't know how they felt about that. They also had special snacks to eat while drinking the beers, but I don't remember how they tasted. The place looked expensive, but I thought we really got our money worth. And I think I remember I even got invited there, so it was very cheap. So, great service, cozy atmosphere, very nice selection of high quality beers, a great view on the sea. That's a great place to go if in Otaru. A beer drinker's paradise. Hopefully you'll be there long enough to go also to the Otaru Soko N. 1.